- Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly: To avoid financial penalties, the NHL will be forced to cancel the Winter Classic sometime between Tuesday and Friday. A 60 or 62 game season could begin on December 1st. After this week, the next cancellation could be the remainder of the season. Players have been saying that if the owners would guarantee existing contracts, that a deal could could get done. That may not be the case according to Don Fehr:
“No, I don’t think so,” he told us. “You have that issue. You have the big reductions. Walking away from contracts but you have changing free agency against the players, changing restricted free agency against the players, changing arbitration against the players, changing length of contract against the players, changing contract structure against the players. All the things which are really important to the players when they negotiate for their own contracts and security, they want to take away, too.
“The owners basic position was, ‘Last time we got a lot of monetary concessions and you got contract rights. Now we want more monetary concessions and we want the contract rights.’ Where does one go from there? When you think about it, is there anything in this for the players?”
- Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune: Wild’s Ryan Suter is backtracking from some comments he made about the owners, including Wild owner Craig Leipold, in a article with Craig Custance and ESPN magazine. From Custance’s story:
“It’s disappointing. If you can’t afford to (sign contracts) then you shouldn’t do it. (Leipold) signed us to contracts. At the time he said everything was fine. Yeah, it’s disappointing. A couple months before, everything is fine, and now they want to take money out of our contracts that we already signed.”
Suter talked with Russo and wanted backpedal a bit on what he said:
“I thought a lot about since what I said, I don’t question Craig Leipold and Minnesota with regards to negotiating our contracts in good faith. I don’t question that. That might have came off wrong. I don’t question that. It’s just frustrating. We just want to play. We support Don in what he’s doing. Obviously you sign a contract, and you want to hold true to that. I think, and I hope, everything works out.”
Do you feel that in the back of Leipold’s mind, he figured you’d take a haircut: “No, I honestly don’t feel that. It’s easy to think that or it might come off like that, but honestly, I know they’re good people. And I know they wouldn’t negotiate thinking, ‘OK, let’s give them this because it’ll end up being this.’ Because that’s not the kind of the people they are. So that came off wrong .”
- Joe Yerdon of Pro Hockey Talk: Taken from the Post-Gazette and ESPN Magazine, Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Miller say they are considering going to Europe. Goalies are having more trouble than position players finding employment overseas.
- David Pagnotta via twitter: Vinny Prospal, Martin Hanzal and Milan Michalek have joined HC Mountfield of the Czech Extraliga.
- TSN: Blake Wheeler has joined EHC Red Bull Munchen of the German Elite League.
- Dave Stubbs via twitter: Reports are that Lars Eller is signing with JYP of the Finnish league. Official announcement could be coming today.
- Craig Button via twitter: Button notes that the 2013 NHL draft is as deep as the 2003 NHL draft in his opinion.